India Summit 2018

Founding sponsor

Silver sponsors

Broadcast sponsor

Overview

India Summit 2018 will bring together policymakers, business leaders from domestic and international companies, and respected political and economic commentators, to place the spotlight on the states’ necessary role in driving the national economic and social agenda.

The day’s programme will evaluate how states are performing in the areas of attracting investment, making it easier to do business, supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, improving access to quality education and, ultimately, contributing to India’s long-term growth and development.

About the summit:

Narendra Modi’s ascent to India’s top job can be traced back to his success in his home state of Gujarat. As chief minister there, Mr Modi established a policy framework that helped attract foreign investment and improve the lives of Gujaratis. Those who aspire to win the prime ministership now have a clear model to follow: first, do well at home and outperform the leaders of rival states.

Many in the current batch of chief ministers appear up to the task of boosting their state’s fortunes. Maharashtra aims to cement its place as the country’s financial and corporate capital by implementing business-friendly policies. Delhi, Telangana and Karnataka welcome deep-pocketed investors and are courting start-ups to set up shop in newly created “tech hubs”, hoping to become home to the next unicorn (a private company valued at $1 billion or more). And four years after Mr Modi’s departure to run the country, Gujarat’s economy is still going strong.

India’s political system, which gives states significant power to implement local rules and enforce laws, means that good leadership at the state level is key to the country’s success. While all have a role, the bigger states and those with the greatest growth potential must play their part for India’s development to stay on track. But are local governments using their power to best effect?

Why attend

India Summit 2018 will place the spotlight on the role states must play in driving the national economic and social agenda. The day’s programme will evaluate how states are performing in the areas of attracting investment, making it easier to do business, supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, improving access to quality education and, ultimately, contributing to India’s long-term growth and development. Can the economically, culturally and socially disparate collection of states and territories which make up India work together for the country’s benefit?

Featured topics

Can India’s economically, culturally and socially disparate collection of states and territories work together for the country’s benefit?

How can competition between states spur growth?

Which state performs best in the areas of attracting investment, supporting innovation, providing quality access to education and contributing to national growth?

Which states give the best access to quality education, and how can their models be reproduced?

Is India’s middle class opportunity a myth?

How much has India’s business climate improved under Mr Modi?

Will GST in its current form do more harm than good?

Audience testimonials

“I think the event covered the most relevant economic issues and challenges that the country is facing and the outcome of the discussions was indeed positive. The entire event was conducted in a positive light reflecting India as a country at the verge of a major leapfrog growth.” Managing director, RGF Executive Search India

“The event was full of diverse speakers from renowned institutions. I loved the way how varied topics were covered ranging from Economy, Innovation, Manufacturing etc. Kudos to the organised team as well.” Co-founder, Leaf Wearables

“The Economist India Summit is a much anticipated red letter day in my annual calendar!” Vice president, Indian Council for UN Relations

Speakers

Nirmala Sitharaman

Minister of defence, Republic of India

Nirmala Sitharaman

Minister of defence, Republic of India

Nirmala Sitharaman was inducted into the Indian cabinet in 2014 and is currently the minister of defence. Having joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2008 and been made a member of the national executive, she was nominated as party spokesperson in 2010 and since then has been a full-time party worker.

Earlier in her career, Ms Sitharaman served as an assistant to the economist at the Agricultural Engineers Association in London. She then worked as a senior manager of research and analysis with Price Waterhouse in London, during which time she also briefly worked with the BBC World Service.

On her return to India, she served as deputy director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies in Hyderabad. She was a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003 to 2005, where she was instrumental in voicing various issues relating to women’s empowerment. From 2014 to 2017, she served as minister of state for finance and corporate affairs under the Ministry of Finance, and as the minister for commerce and industry with independent charge. She was appointed as the minister of defence in 2017.

Ms Sitharaman has a degree in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tiruchirappalli and a master’s degree in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal is the minister railways and the minister of coal in the government of India. He is currently a member of Rajya Sabha and was earlier the national treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He headed the BJP's information communication campaign committee and oversaw the publicity and advertising campaign of the party, including the social media outreach for the Indian general elections in 2014.

During his 28-year political career, Mr Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in the BJP and is in the National Executive of the party. In 2002 the government of India nominated him to the prestigious Task-force on Interlinking of Rivers.
He was a well-known investment banker and he has advised top corporates on management strategy and growth. He earlier served on the board of the State Bank of India and the Bank of Baroda.

Mr Goyal is a chartered accountant and studied law at Mumbai University. He has participated in leadership programmes at Yale University (2011), Oxford University (2012) and Princeton University (2013) and is currently pursuing the Owner/President Management (OPM) programme at Harvard Business School.

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

Kumar Mangalam Birla is the chairman of the multinational Aditya Birla Group, which operates in 36 countries across six continents. He took over as chairman of the group in 1995, at the age of 28, after the untimely demise of his father.

In more than two decades as chairman, he has accelerated growth, built a meritocracy within the group, and enhanced stakeholder value. He has also restructured the group’s businesses to allow them to emerge as global or national leaders in their respective sectors. Over the years, he has led the acquisition of new manufacturing plants in Canada, China and Indonesia, and of new mines in Australia, and the setting up of new plants in Egypt, Thailand and China. At the same time, he has expanded capacity in all of the group’s manufacturing units.

A firm practitioner of the trusteeship concept, Mr Birla has institutionalised the concept of caring and giving at the Aditya Birla Group. In line with this commitment to sustainable development, he has partnered with Columbia University in establishing the Columbia Global Center’s Earth Institute in Mumbai. To embed corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a way of life in organisations, has also set up the FICCI Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence in Delhi.

Avnish Bajaj

Founder and managing partner, Matrix Partners

Avnish Bajaj

Founder and managing partner, Matrix Partners

Avnish Bajaj is the Founder and Managing Partner of Matrix Partners
India which is an investment firm with close to USD 1 billion under
management. Matrix India invests across early and early growth
stages of businesses in Technology–related sectors.
Avnish’s select current investments for Matrix India include
Limeroad (mobile social marketplace), Ola (mobility business),
Practo (healthcare app), Quikr (online local classifieds), Cloudnine
(maternity hospitals) and Meditrina (cardiac care hospitals). His select
past investments with exits include Ace2three (online rummy), Centre
for Sight (eye care hospitals) and ItzCash (acquired by NASDAQ: EBIX). He is also a founder investor in Cleartrip (online travel aggregator) amongst other investments as an angel investor.
Previously Avnish was the co–founder, Chairman and CEO of India’s Largest Online Marketplace at the time – Baazee.com – which was acquired by eBay and he ran eBay India thereafter. Prior to Baazee, he was an Investment Banker in the Technology group at Goldman Sachs in New York
and San Francisco. He was also a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.and started his career with Apple Computer in the Bay Area.
He is a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School, WARF Fellow from University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Computer Science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
He has received a number of awards and citations including the 'Midas Touch' best investor award by The Economic Times and a repeat presence on the '40 who matter' list.

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala has been the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank India since April 2016. Before assuming her current role, she was the president at ICICI Bank, where she was responsible for managing the wholesale banking business. She joined the ICICI Group in 1989 and has had varied experience working in several departments such as corporate planning, investment banking and credit. She has held leadership positions in several areas, including corporate finance and agribusiness. In addition to her responsibilities as president of ICICI Bank, Ms Daruwala served on the board of directors of ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Securities. She also served on the board of JSW Steel for almost eight years.

She was named the 14th most powerful woman in business by Fortune India in 2016, and was selected five times as one of the top 30 most powerful women in Indian business by Business Today. She has also received the CA Business Achiever Award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Ms Daruwala is a rank-holding chartered accountant and a gold-medallist company secretary.

Nilanjan Ghosh

Senior fellow and head, economics, Observer Research Foundation

Nilanjan Ghosh

Senior fellow and head, economics, Observer Research Foundation

Nilanjan Ghosh is a senior fellow and the head of economics at the Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata, where he recently set up the water governance studies division, and the chief economic advisor at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) India in New Delhi.

His previous positions have included stints as chief economist in financial-sector organisations, and as a member of the faculty at TERI University, New Delhi. He has also been a visiting fellow at Linnaeus University, Sweden.

A natural resource economist and econometrician by training, he obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, and has also visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for certification in the water-diplomacy programme developed by Harvard, MIT and Tufts University.

Mr Ghosh’s research interests are in ecological economics, trade and developmental issues, water resources and financial markets. He has conducted consultancy and advisory assignments for a large number of organisations, including the Chinese consulate in Kolkata, WWF UK, the World Bank and many other clients. One of India’s foremost development analysts and ecological economists, his publications include seven books and monographs and more than 40 peer-reviewed research papers.

Adi B. Godrej

Chairman, The Godrej Group

Adi B. Godrej

Chairman, The Godrej Group

Adi Godrej is the chairman of the Godrej Group, a hundred-year-old family conglomerate with operations in India and several other countries, which is mainly privately held. He has been the president of several Indian trade and industrial bodies and associations, chairman of the board of the Indian School of Business, and president of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He has been a member of the dean’s advisory council of the MIT Sloan School of Management, chairman of the board of governors of the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and a member of the Wharton Asian executive board. He is also a patron of the Himalayan Club.

CP Gurnani

Managing director and chief executive, Tech Mahindra

CP Gurnani

Managing director and chief executive, Tech Mahindra

CP Gurnani is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tech Mahindra—a USD 4.8 billion digital transformations, consulting and business re-engineering services and solutions provider— that employs more than 112,900 professionals across 90 countries. CP has single-handedly led Tech Mahindra’s transformation journey, one of the biggest turnarounds of Indian corporate history – the acquisition and merger of Satyam.

CP is also proactive about nurturing a digital future-ready talent pool and a lot of it has to do with reskilling the workforce. He realizes that as a leading global digital transformation company, one just cannot ride the growth path with resources that out of sync with market dynamics. Equipping associates with digital familiarization in collaboration with an array of top-notch online learning companies, CP has laid the foundation for the rapid adoption of automation and accompanying fifth-generation technologies, such as AI, Blockchain, IoT, Cloud, BI & Analytics, 5G.

He is an ardent supporter of Individual Social Responsibility and often prods people to invest their time towards the betterment of humanity and society at large. He is an active member of the Tech Mahindra Foundation – launched in 2007 to help the underprivileged children. He has also founded ‘Titliyan’, an NGO that spearheads spreading quality education and developing life and social skills of more than 140 underprivileged children.

CP has been chosen as the Ernst and Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year [Manager]’, CNBC Asia’s ‘India Business Leader of the Year’, Dataquest ‘IT person of the Year’ - in 2013 and Business Standard ‘CEO of the Year’ in 2014. He was also awarded the ‘Best CEO of the Year’ at the Forbes India Leadership Awards held in 2015. A recent addition to the bucket was ‘Asia One Global Indian of the Year - Technology’ in 2016. CP was also listed among the top 100 global CEOs as part of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council 2016. CP Gurnani was also a part of Part of the Harvard Case Study on ‘Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers’ (Harvard Case Study) and was also the Chairman of NASSCOM in 2016-17.

Hemant Kanoria

Chairman and managing director, Srei Infrastructure Finance

Hemant Kanoria

Chairman and managing director, Srei Infrastructure Finance

Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited ("Srei"), a Kanoria Foundation entity, is one of India's largest private sector integrated infrastructure institutions, constantly and consistently delivering innovative solutions in the infrastructure sector. The company has been playing a significant role in nation-building for over two and half decades, both in urban and rural India. Srei's businesses include Infrastructure Finance, Advisory, Infrastructure Equipment Finance, Alternative Investment Funds, Capital Markets and Insurance Broking. Srei is headquartered in Kolkata with over 89 offices across India and having a customer base of over 85,000.

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant is the chief executive of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), an Indian government institution for catalysing the development process and nurturing an overall enabling environment by working in partnership with states.

Mr Kant is a member of the Indian Administrative Service. Until March 2016, he was the secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. He has worked as chairman and chief executive of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, chairman of the National Productivity Council, CMD-ITDC secretary (tourism) for the government of Kerala; and joint secretary of the Ministry of Tourism.

He is the author of “Branding India: An Incredible Story”, and has been a key driver of the Make in India, Startup India, Incredible India and God’s Own Country initiatives, which have positioned and branded India and Kerala state as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations.

Farhan Pettiwala

Farhan Pettiwala

Farhan Pettiwala is a well-known name in Healthcare, Youth Impact, Skill Development and EPC/Infrastructure Industry. Currently, he is the Executive Director & Head Development- India & South Asia of Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital (supported by TATA Trust). Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital is the 3rd largest hospital, headquartered in North India, engaged in eliminating blindness in low per capita geographies. Prior to his current role, he was President of Enactus India, a subsidiary of Enactus Worldwide, the international non-profit organization of students with a focus on community empowerment through entrepreneurial action. Enactus’ corporate partners include global names like Walmart, KPMG, Unilever, Coca Cola, Cargill, Ford, Hershey, HSBC and others. The Enactus Worldwide network is spread across 36 countries with over 70,000 active student members spread across 1700 universities. In India, Farhan steered the organisation that has over 3,000 student participants on 88 college campuses across the country who are guided in conceptualising and implementing various entrepreneurial projects, particularly among disadvantaged communities.

A first generation entrepreneur, Farhan established the IACO Group in 1994, under which banner he steered the designing and installing of energy-saving HVAC/IAQ systems with a ‘Green Business Design’, Under his leadership, IACO Group, which he set up with an initial investment of Rs 50,000 grew to become an INR 500 crore enterprise in 15 years. He strategized and entered into a joint venture with Norfolk Group Australia and established the company as a distributor for Carrier Aircon Ltd. He spearheaded ASX-listed Norfolk Mechanical’s India operations to register 100% growth in three years. and then signed a JV to merge with “Norfolk Group, Australia”. Later on he moved to Norfolk to head their EPC business worth $800million in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, HK and India

Farhan is a gold medallist Mechanical Engineer and has studied management from ISB Hyderabad and Harvard Business School. Farhan has won recognition in the shape of various awards and felicitations. He is on the CII India@75 task force supporting PMO as an advisor on Skill Development and Healthcare policies. He has worked in Australia, Singapore, Dubai, USA and India and enjoys Top C-level relationship globally. Having been a passionate entrepreneur with an acknowledged expertise in leadership, climate change & sustainability, Farhan is buoyant over the prospects of entrepreneurship in the country.

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

As chief executive and managing director of Diageo India, Anand Kripalu is leading the firm’s transformational journey. He is also part of the executive committee of Diageo plc. He was formerly president, India and South Asia, at Mondelez International, and managing director of Cadbury India. He also worked at Hindustan Unilever for 22 years. He has been a board member at Marico since 2007 and served as the chairman of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies.

Mr Kripalu has a bachelor’s degree in electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. He has also completed the advanced management programme at Wharton Business School.

V. Ramgopal Rao

Director, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

V. Ramgopal Rao

Director, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao is currently the Director, IIT Delhi. Before joining IIT Delhi as the Director in April 2016, Dr. Rao served as a P. K. Kelkar Chair Professor for Nanotechnology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and as the Chief Investigator for the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics project at IIT Bombay. Dr. Rao has over 450 research publications in the area of nano-scale devices & Nanoelectronics and is an inventor on 40 patents and patent applications, which include 15 issued US patents. Eleven of his patents have been licensed to industries for commercialization. Prof. Rao is a co-founder of two deep technology startups at IIT Bombay (Nanosniff & Soilsens) which are developing products of relevance to the society. Dr. Rao is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy.

Prof. Rao's work is recognized with many awards and honors in the country and abroad. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences in 2005 and the Infosys Prize in 2013. Dr. Rao also received the Swarnajayanti Fellowship award from the Department of Science & Technology, IBM Faculty award, Best Research award from the Intel Asia Academic Forum, TechnoMentor award from the Indian Semiconductor Association, DAE-SRC Outstanding Research Investigator award, NASI-Reliance Platinum Jubilee award, J.C.Bose National Fellowship, Prof. C.N.R.Rao National Nanoscience award, VASVIK Award and the Excellence in Research Award from IIT Bombay. Prof. Rao was an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices during 2003-2012 for the CMOS Devices and Technology area and currently serves on the Editorial boards of other journals. He is a Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Electron Devices Society and interacts closely with many semiconductor industries both in India and abroad.

Dr. Rao served as the Chairman, IEEE AP/ED Bombay Chapter and as a Vice-Chairman, IEEE Asia Pacific Regions/Chapters sub-committee for two terms. He was the first elected Chairman for the India section, American Nano Society during 2013-2015.

Kailash Satyarthi

Founder, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

Kailash Satyarthi

Founder, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

Ahmed El Sheikh

President and chief executive, PepsiCo India

Ahmed El Sheikh

President and chief executive, PepsiCo India

Ahmed El Sheikh has been the president and chief executive of PepsiCo India since November 2017. He brings with him almost 30 years of rich and diverse experience in the fast-moving consumer goods industry.

During his career, he has held leadership roles in the food and beverages sector in dynamic international markets. He began his career as a sales executive for Cadbury in Egypt, where he rose to the position of unit sales manager within six years. He then held various sales and marketing leadership roles in Johnson & Johnson’s Saudi Arabia business for the next decade. He joined PepsiCo in 2001 as franchise manager for all Arab states of the Gulf region, and has since held leadership roles in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, North-East Africa, the Gulf region and Saudi Arabia. In his past 17 years with PepsiCo, he has steered the company to success during critical changes in the business environment, geopolitical challenges and currency devaluation. Ahmed also serves on the board of Injaz Egypt, an NGO that empowers youth for a brighter economic future, and sits on the board of Beyti Juice as well as a dairy joint venture in Egypt.

Chetna Sinha

Founder and chairperson, Mann Deshi Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation

Chetna Sinha

Founder and chairperson, Mann Deshi Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation

Chetna Gala Sinha is an activist, farmer and banker. In the early 1980s, while still a student, she joined the Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) movement and travelled through the country championing land rights and other social issues. She has also worked very closely within the feminist movement, especially the Forum Against Oppression of Women, and the farmer’s movement, especially the Shektkari Sanghatna, founded by Sharad Joshi.

In 1996, she founded the Mann Deshi Foundation in Mhaswad, a drought-stricken area of Maharashtra, with the aim of economically and socially empowering rural women. In 1997, she set up the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank - India’s first bank for and by rural women.

Today, the Mann Deshi Bank has 90,000 account holders, manages business of over 150 crores and regularly creates new financial products to support the needs of female micro-entrepreneurs. It has received the 2006 Microfinance Process Excellence Award, the 2014 Best Eco-Tech Bank Award by the Indian Bank Association and the 2015 ‘Best Bank Award’ by the Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Banks Federation.

In 2006, Chetna founded the first Business Schools for Rural Women and in 2013, she launched a toll-free helpline and the first Chambers of Commerce for women micro-entrepreneurs in the country. In 2012, she set up a Community Empowerment Programme for Farmers that supports Water Conservation. It has built 10 check dams and impacted 50,000 people. Mann Deshi Foundation also has a Sports Programme for talented athletes (2012) and a women-owned Community Radio (2008) that reaches over 150,000 listeners. In 2013, Mann Deshi Foundation was awarded the Best Innovation Award by the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. To date, Mann Deshi has supported over 400,000 women and plans to reach one million women entrepreneurs by 2022.

Chetna Sinha has received many accolades for her work. In 2002, she was part of the first class of Yale University’s prestigious World Fellows Programme. She has awarded the 2005 Jankidevi Bajaj Award for Rural Entrepreneurship, the 2005 Ashoka Changemakers Award, the 2009 Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award, the 2010 EdelGive Social Innovation Honors (Livelihood Category) and the Schwab Foundation’s 2013 Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

In November 2017, she was awarded the Forbes Social Entrepreneurs of the Year Award. In January 2018, she has served as a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Shashi Tharoor

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

Shashi Tharoor

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

Dr Shashi Tharooris an award-winning author of 17 books of fiction and non-fiction, including The Great Indian Novel, Inglorious Empire and the recently published, Why I Am A Hindu. A second-term Member of Parliament representing Thiruvananthapuram, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, he has served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India.

Richa Bajpai

Founder, Goodera

Richa Bajpai

Founder, Goodera

Richa Bajpai is the Founder of Goodera, a technology platform that helps companies measure the progress and impact of their CSR, Sustainability and Volunteering initiatives at the last mile, on a real-time basis. Richa, a dropout from the Indian School of Business (ISB) started her entrepreneurial journey with a renewable energy company but soon realised the need for technology in transforming the world of doing good across the world, and that's how Goodera came into existence in 2014, which she started with her friend Abhishek Humbad.

Richa was instrumental in taking the business global, by enabling the setup of an office and a strong client base in the United States in 2017, then in Europe/UK in 2018. Currently, 200+ corporates including Reckitt Benckiser, P&G, Target, Dell, GAP, Abbott, Amazon are using the Goodera platform to track, monitor and measure the impact of $250mn of development capital deployed annually across 70+ countries, impacting 6mn+ beneficiaries. Goodera has raised ~$18mn in venture funding and is backed by investors like Omidyar Network and Nexus Venture Partners.

Sachin Menon

National Head, Indirect Tax, KPMG India

Sachin Menon

National Head, Indirect Tax, KPMG India

Sachin has over 34 years of experience in handling Indirect Taxes which include 16 years with various MNCs / local corporates in management roles and 18 years with Global Consulting majors including E&Y and PwC as a Senior Partner in Leadership roles. Sachin is an influential and respected voice on Indirect tax matters both among the government policy making bodies as well as the corporate world. He is the Co-Chair of GST Task Force, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry [FICCI] and the Chairman of GST Committee, US-India Business Council [USIBC]. He is also a member of Indirect Taxation Committee of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He was also the former Chairman of the Indirect tax committee of Bombay Chamber of Commerce, Sachin has been recognised as one of top ten most admired Asia Pacific Indirect tax advisors by International Tax Review [ITR].

His areas of industry experience include Automobile, Financial Services, Telecom, Infrastructure & Real Estate, Energy and FMCG. He has also addressed numerous national and international indirect tax seminars organised by major Industry Associations such as CII, ASSOCHAM, FICCI and Euro Money.

Preet Dhupar

Chief Financial Officer, IKEA India

Preet Dhupar

Chief Financial Officer, IKEA India

Preet Dhupar is the chief financial officer at IKEA Group India. She has been with IKEA for more than 4 years.

Prior to this, she was handling leadership roles at BBC India for more than 14 years. She started her career at Becton Dickinson India as financial planning manager. Overall, she has 20 years of experience in various industries and geographies. She has been exposed to multiple facets of a senior finance role from strategic decision making to planning and analysis, statutory accounting, risk management, ERP implementation, taxation and compliance. Preet has a strong knowledge of global accounting principles and excellent understanding of Indian tax laws and practice.

Preet is a chartered accountant with a Bachelors’ degree from Sri Ram College of Commerce. She attended the Integrating Strategy and Finance course at ISB, Hyderabad.

She loves doing social work and has been a member of organisations like Childline India, Enactus, amongst others. Her hobbies are acting, reading, etc.

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli, a correspondent for The Economist, has been based in Delhi for the past three years. He concentrates mainly on stories that affect politics and society at the state level. He is also the Asia-based editor for The Economist’s 24-hour news desk, responsible for assigning and editing articles during the Asian third of the business day; he also composes the overnight European edition of The Economist Espresso. Prior to his assignment to Delhi, he worked in the newspaper’s Hong Kong and New York bureaus.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Prior to taking up a commercial role with The Economist Group, Laurel spent more than ten years covering India as an editor with The Economist Intelligence Unit. She has also served as editorial director of the group’s Thought Leadership division for Asia, overseeing research programmes on a wide range of topics including the environment for internet-based business, women’s role in corporate Asia, innovation in healthcare and outbound M&A from China, to name but a few.
Currently based in Hong Kong, Ms West has lived in Asia for more than 20 years.

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles is the newly-arrived South Asia business and economics correspondent for The Economist, based in Mumbai. Before moving to India this summer, he covered Africa, from Nairobi for three years. Before that, he was based in Washington DC and London, covering politics and general news

Agenda

Registration and refreshments

9:30 AM

Chair’s opening remarks

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli, a correspondent for The Economist, has been based in Delhi for the past three years. He concentrates mainly on stories that affect politics and society at the state level. He is also the Asia-based editor for The Economist’s 24-hour news desk, responsible for assigning and editing articles during the Asian third of the business day; he also composes the overnight European edition of The Economist Espresso. Prior to his assignment to Delhi, he worked in the newspaper’s Hong Kong and New York bureaus.

9:45 AM

Compete to grow

The economic policies of the Modi government have yet to deliver robust growth, and many parts of the economy remain unreformed. The effects of the demonetisation initiative of 2016 are still being felt, and many economists question the accuracy of the 8% growth rate.Yet much of India’s hopes for growth must be pinned at the state level. Which among them are doing best at rolling out sweeping economic reforms, creating jobs, building much-needed infrastructure, improving connectivity and paving the way for businesses to invest? How seriously do they take the competition between them, and how can national policy help them individually?

Adi B. Godrej

Chairman, The Godrej Group

Adi B. Godrej

Chairman, The Godrej Group

Adi Godrej is the chairman of the Godrej Group, a hundred-year-old family conglomerate with operations in India and several other countries, which is mainly privately held. He has been the president of several Indian trade and industrial bodies and associations, chairman of the board of the Indian School of Business, and president of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He has been a member of the dean’s advisory council of the MIT Sloan School of Management, chairman of the board of governors of the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and a member of the Wharton Asian executive board. He is also a patron of the Himalayan Club.

Nilanjan Ghosh

Senior fellow and head, economics, Observer Research Foundation

Nilanjan Ghosh

Senior fellow and head, economics, Observer Research Foundation

Nilanjan Ghosh is a senior fellow and the head of economics at the Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata, where he recently set up the water governance studies division, and the chief economic advisor at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) India in New Delhi.

His previous positions have included stints as chief economist in financial-sector organisations, and as a member of the faculty at TERI University, New Delhi. He has also been a visiting fellow at Linnaeus University, Sweden.

A natural resource economist and econometrician by training, he obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, and has also visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for certification in the water-diplomacy programme developed by Harvard, MIT and Tufts University.

Mr Ghosh’s research interests are in ecological economics, trade and developmental issues, water resources and financial markets. He has conducted consultancy and advisory assignments for a large number of organisations, including the Chinese consulate in Kolkata, WWF UK, the World Bank and many other clients. One of India’s foremost development analysts and ecological economists, his publications include seven books and monographs and more than 40 peer-reviewed research papers.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

10:30 AM

Ask The Economist: Mr Modi’s reforms—A tentative scorecard

Much of Mr Modi’s reform agenda has been delivered through programmes like GST and demonetisation. But many expected more broadly sweeping reforms to dismantle decades of socialist-era policies. Land remains an intractable issue, the labour market has stayed difficult to navigate, most banks are still state-owned, and there has been little progress in returning the commanding heights of many industries to the private sector. If a popular right-wing government with a mandate for reform won’t take these on these challenges, who will?In this session, a panel of editors from The Economist will discuss Mr Modi’s performance and consider what his second term may look like. The audience will also be invited to ask questions.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli, a correspondent for The Economist, has been based in Delhi for the past three years. He concentrates mainly on stories that affect politics and society at the state level. He is also the Asia-based editor for The Economist’s 24-hour news desk, responsible for assigning and editing articles during the Asian third of the business day; he also composes the overnight European edition of The Economist Espresso. Prior to his assignment to Delhi, he worked in the newspaper’s Hong Kong and New York bureaus.

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles is the newly-arrived South Asia business and economics correspondent for The Economist, based in Mumbai. Before moving to India this summer, he covered Africa, from Nairobi for three years. Before that, he was based in Washington DC and London, covering politics and general news

10:45 AM

Networking break

11:30 AM

Focus on defence: How the national government, states and territories can work together for the country's benefit

Nirmala Sitharaman

Minister of defence, Republic of India

Nirmala Sitharaman

Minister of defence, Republic of India

Nirmala Sitharaman was inducted into the Indian cabinet in 2014 and is currently the minister of defence. Having joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2008 and been made a member of the national executive, she was nominated as party spokesperson in 2010 and since then has been a full-time party worker.

Earlier in her career, Ms Sitharaman served as an assistant to the economist at the Agricultural Engineers Association in London. She then worked as a senior manager of research and analysis with Price Waterhouse in London, during which time she also briefly worked with the BBC World Service.

On her return to India, she served as deputy director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies in Hyderabad. She was a member of the National Commission for Women from 2003 to 2005, where she was instrumental in voicing various issues relating to women’s empowerment. From 2014 to 2017, she served as minister of state for finance and corporate affairs under the Ministry of Finance, and as the minister for commerce and industry with independent charge. She was appointed as the minister of defence in 2017.

Ms Sitharaman has a degree in economics from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College in Tiruchirappalli and a master’s degree in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

12:00 PM

Doing business in India: Work in progress

When asked if India is an easy place to do business, most corporate chiefs say “not yet”. The country performed something of a miracle in jumping 30 places last year on the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings to stand 100th out of 190 countries. Has India’s business climate really improved so much under Mr Modi? Which states are the most attractive investment destinations, and what sets them apart from the others? Ultimately, what do business leaders need most to empower them in helping to drive growth and prosperity across the country?

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala

Chief executive, Standard Chartered Bank India

Zarin Daruwala has been the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank India since April 2016. Before assuming her current role, she was the president at ICICI Bank, where she was responsible for managing the wholesale banking business. She joined the ICICI Group in 1989 and has had varied experience working in several departments such as corporate planning, investment banking and credit. She has held leadership positions in several areas, including corporate finance and agribusiness. In addition to her responsibilities as president of ICICI Bank, Ms Daruwala served on the board of directors of ICICI Lombard General Insurance and ICICI Securities. She also served on the board of JSW Steel for almost eight years.

She was named the 14th most powerful woman in business by Fortune India in 2016, and was selected five times as one of the top 30 most powerful women in Indian business by Business Today. She has also received the CA Business Achiever Award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Ms Daruwala is a rank-holding chartered accountant and a gold-medallist company secretary.

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant

Chief executive, NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant is the chief executive of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), an Indian government institution for catalysing the development process and nurturing an overall enabling environment by working in partnership with states.

Mr Kant is a member of the Indian Administrative Service. Until March 2016, he was the secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. He has worked as chairman and chief executive of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, chairman of the National Productivity Council, CMD-ITDC secretary (tourism) for the government of Kerala; and joint secretary of the Ministry of Tourism.

He is the author of “Branding India: An Incredible Story”, and has been a key driver of the Make in India, Startup India, Incredible India and God’s Own Country initiatives, which have positioned and branded India and Kerala state as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations.

Ahmed El Sheikh

President and chief executive, PepsiCo India

Ahmed El Sheikh

President and chief executive, PepsiCo India

Ahmed El Sheikh has been the president and chief executive of PepsiCo India since November 2017. He brings with him almost 30 years of rich and diverse experience in the fast-moving consumer goods industry.

During his career, he has held leadership roles in the food and beverages sector in dynamic international markets. He began his career as a sales executive for Cadbury in Egypt, where he rose to the position of unit sales manager within six years. He then held various sales and marketing leadership roles in Johnson & Johnson’s Saudi Arabia business for the next decade. He joined PepsiCo in 2001 as franchise manager for all Arab states of the Gulf region, and has since held leadership roles in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, North-East Africa, the Gulf region and Saudi Arabia. In his past 17 years with PepsiCo, he has steered the company to success during critical changes in the business environment, geopolitical challenges and currency devaluation. Ahmed also serves on the board of Injaz Egypt, an NGO that empowers youth for a brighter economic future, and sits on the board of Beyti Juice as well as a dairy joint venture in Egypt.

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

Anand Kripalu

Managing director and chief executive, Diageo India

As chief executive and managing director of Diageo India, Anand Kripalu is leading the firm’s transformational journey. He is also part of the executive committee of Diageo plc. He was formerly president, India and South Asia, at Mondelez International, and managing director of Cadbury India. He also worked at Hindustan Unilever for 22 years. He has been a board member at Marico since 2007 and served as the chairman of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies.

Mr Kripalu has a bachelor’s degree in electronics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. He has also completed the advanced management programme at Wharton Business School.

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli, a correspondent for The Economist, has been based in Delhi for the past three years. He concentrates mainly on stories that affect politics and society at the state level. He is also the Asia-based editor for The Economist’s 24-hour news desk, responsible for assigning and editing articles during the Asian third of the business day; he also composes the overnight European edition of The Economist Espresso. Prior to his assignment to Delhi, he worked in the newspaper’s Hong Kong and New York bureaus.

12:45 PM

Networking luncheon

2:00 PM

Empowering the young

In this technological era, when blue-collar job growth is slow, future growth and prosperity must be built on the cornerstone of education. New skills will enable young graduates to find jobs by meeting the needs of modern, tech-driven companies. Yet, too few Indians outside major cities have access to high-quality education. Though Indian technology institutes and colleges, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), do well in global rankings and churn out bright students who find well-paying jobs, too many Indians still struggle to get quality schooling. Which states give the best access to quality education, and how can their models be reproduced?

Shashi Tharoor

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

Shashi Tharoor

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

Dr Shashi Tharooris an award-winning author of 17 books of fiction and non-fiction, including The Great Indian Novel, Inglorious Empire and the recently published, Why I Am A Hindu. A second-term Member of Parliament representing Thiruvananthapuram, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, he has served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India.

CP Gurnani

Managing director and chief executive, Tech Mahindra

CP Gurnani

Managing director and chief executive, Tech Mahindra

CP Gurnani is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tech Mahindra—a USD 4.8 billion digital transformations, consulting and business re-engineering services and solutions provider— that employs more than 112,900 professionals across 90 countries. CP has single-handedly led Tech Mahindra’s transformation journey, one of the biggest turnarounds of Indian corporate history – the acquisition and merger of Satyam.

CP is also proactive about nurturing a digital future-ready talent pool and a lot of it has to do with reskilling the workforce. He realizes that as a leading global digital transformation company, one just cannot ride the growth path with resources that out of sync with market dynamics. Equipping associates with digital familiarization in collaboration with an array of top-notch online learning companies, CP has laid the foundation for the rapid adoption of automation and accompanying fifth-generation technologies, such as AI, Blockchain, IoT, Cloud, BI & Analytics, 5G.

He is an ardent supporter of Individual Social Responsibility and often prods people to invest their time towards the betterment of humanity and society at large. He is an active member of the Tech Mahindra Foundation – launched in 2007 to help the underprivileged children. He has also founded ‘Titliyan’, an NGO that spearheads spreading quality education and developing life and social skills of more than 140 underprivileged children.

CP has been chosen as the Ernst and Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year [Manager]’, CNBC Asia’s ‘India Business Leader of the Year’, Dataquest ‘IT person of the Year’ - in 2013 and Business Standard ‘CEO of the Year’ in 2014. He was also awarded the ‘Best CEO of the Year’ at the Forbes India Leadership Awards held in 2015. A recent addition to the bucket was ‘Asia One Global Indian of the Year - Technology’ in 2016. CP was also listed among the top 100 global CEOs as part of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council 2016. CP Gurnani was also a part of Part of the Harvard Case Study on ‘Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers’ (Harvard Case Study) and was also the Chairman of NASSCOM in 2016-17.

V. Ramgopal Rao

Director, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

V. Ramgopal Rao

Director, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao is currently the Director, IIT Delhi. Before joining IIT Delhi as the Director in April 2016, Dr. Rao served as a P. K. Kelkar Chair Professor for Nanotechnology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and as the Chief Investigator for the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics project at IIT Bombay. Dr. Rao has over 450 research publications in the area of nano-scale devices & Nanoelectronics and is an inventor on 40 patents and patent applications, which include 15 issued US patents. Eleven of his patents have been licensed to industries for commercialization. Prof. Rao is a co-founder of two deep technology startups at IIT Bombay (Nanosniff & Soilsens) which are developing products of relevance to the society. Dr. Rao is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy.

Prof. Rao's work is recognized with many awards and honors in the country and abroad. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences in 2005 and the Infosys Prize in 2013. Dr. Rao also received the Swarnajayanti Fellowship award from the Department of Science & Technology, IBM Faculty award, Best Research award from the Intel Asia Academic Forum, TechnoMentor award from the Indian Semiconductor Association, DAE-SRC Outstanding Research Investigator award, NASI-Reliance Platinum Jubilee award, J.C.Bose National Fellowship, Prof. C.N.R.Rao National Nanoscience award, VASVIK Award and the Excellence in Research Award from IIT Bombay. Prof. Rao was an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices during 2003-2012 for the CMOS Devices and Technology area and currently serves on the Editorial boards of other journals. He is a Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Electron Devices Society and interacts closely with many semiconductor industries both in India and abroad.

Dr. Rao served as the Chairman, IEEE AP/ED Bombay Chapter and as a Vice-Chairman, IEEE Asia Pacific Regions/Chapters sub-committee for two terms. He was the first elected Chairman for the India section, American Nano Society during 2013-2015.

Chetna Sinha

Founder and chairperson, Mann Deshi Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation

Chetna Sinha

Founder and chairperson, Mann Deshi Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation

Chetna Gala Sinha is an activist, farmer and banker. In the early 1980s, while still a student, she joined the Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) movement and travelled through the country championing land rights and other social issues. She has also worked very closely within the feminist movement, especially the Forum Against Oppression of Women, and the farmer’s movement, especially the Shektkari Sanghatna, founded by Sharad Joshi.

In 1996, she founded the Mann Deshi Foundation in Mhaswad, a drought-stricken area of Maharashtra, with the aim of economically and socially empowering rural women. In 1997, she set up the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank - India’s first bank for and by rural women.

Today, the Mann Deshi Bank has 90,000 account holders, manages business of over 150 crores and regularly creates new financial products to support the needs of female micro-entrepreneurs. It has received the 2006 Microfinance Process Excellence Award, the 2014 Best Eco-Tech Bank Award by the Indian Bank Association and the 2015 ‘Best Bank Award’ by the Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Banks Federation.

In 2006, Chetna founded the first Business Schools for Rural Women and in 2013, she launched a toll-free helpline and the first Chambers of Commerce for women micro-entrepreneurs in the country. In 2012, she set up a Community Empowerment Programme for Farmers that supports Water Conservation. It has built 10 check dams and impacted 50,000 people. Mann Deshi Foundation also has a Sports Programme for talented athletes (2012) and a women-owned Community Radio (2008) that reaches over 150,000 listeners. In 2013, Mann Deshi Foundation was awarded the Best Innovation Award by the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. To date, Mann Deshi has supported over 400,000 women and plans to reach one million women entrepreneurs by 2022.

Chetna Sinha has received many accolades for her work. In 2002, she was part of the first class of Yale University’s prestigious World Fellows Programme. She has awarded the 2005 Jankidevi Bajaj Award for Rural Entrepreneurship, the 2005 Ashoka Changemakers Award, the 2009 Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award, the 2010 EdelGive Social Innovation Honors (Livelihood Category) and the Schwab Foundation’s 2013 Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

In November 2017, she was awarded the Forbes Social Entrepreneurs of the Year Award. In January 2018, she has served as a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Laurel West

Managing director, content solutions and events, Asia, The Economist Group

Prior to taking up a commercial role with The Economist Group, Laurel spent more than ten years covering India as an editor with The Economist Intelligence Unit. She has also served as editorial director of the group’s Thought Leadership division for Asia, overseeing research programmes on a wide range of topics including the environment for internet-based business, women’s role in corporate Asia, innovation in healthcare and outbound M&A from China, to name but a few.
Currently based in Hong Kong, Ms West has lived in Asia for more than 20 years.

2:40 PM

Beyond the rhetoric: Nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship

India’s innovative start-ups have stolen headlines in recent years by receiving billions from domestic and foreign investors. Realising the potential these firms present for job creation, growth and investment, many states have retooled their policy frameworks to show they are open for business and provide conducive environments for entrepreneurs. But is there substance beyond the start-up-friendly rhetoric? Where do start-ups prefer to set up businesses, and which states and cities are most hospitable? And how can the young business leaders of tomorrow, who have national and global ambitions, capitalise on what the most forward-thinking states are offering?

Hemant Kanoria

Chairman and managing director, Srei Infrastructure Finance

Hemant Kanoria

Chairman and managing director, Srei Infrastructure Finance

Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited ("Srei"), a Kanoria Foundation entity, is one of India's largest private sector integrated infrastructure institutions, constantly and consistently delivering innovative solutions in the infrastructure sector. The company has been playing a significant role in nation-building for over two and half decades, both in urban and rural India. Srei's businesses include Infrastructure Finance, Advisory, Infrastructure Equipment Finance, Alternative Investment Funds, Capital Markets and Insurance Broking. Srei is headquartered in Kolkata with over 89 offices across India and having a customer base of over 85,000.

Richa Bajpai

Founder, Goodera

Richa Bajpai

Founder, Goodera

Richa Bajpai is the Founder of Goodera, a technology platform that helps companies measure the progress and impact of their CSR, Sustainability and Volunteering initiatives at the last mile, on a real-time basis. Richa, a dropout from the Indian School of Business (ISB) started her entrepreneurial journey with a renewable energy company but soon realised the need for technology in transforming the world of doing good across the world, and that's how Goodera came into existence in 2014, which she started with her friend Abhishek Humbad.

Richa was instrumental in taking the business global, by enabling the setup of an office and a strong client base in the United States in 2017, then in Europe/UK in 2018. Currently, 200+ corporates including Reckitt Benckiser, P&G, Target, Dell, GAP, Abbott, Amazon are using the Goodera platform to track, monitor and measure the impact of $250mn of development capital deployed annually across 70+ countries, impacting 6mn+ beneficiaries. Goodera has raised ~$18mn in venture funding and is backed by investors like Omidyar Network and Nexus Venture Partners.

Avnish Bajaj

Founder and managing partner, Matrix Partners

Avnish Bajaj

Founder and managing partner, Matrix Partners

Avnish Bajaj is the Founder and Managing Partner of Matrix Partners
India which is an investment firm with close to USD 1 billion under
management. Matrix India invests across early and early growth
stages of businesses in Technology–related sectors.
Avnish’s select current investments for Matrix India include
Limeroad (mobile social marketplace), Ola (mobility business),
Practo (healthcare app), Quikr (online local classifieds), Cloudnine
(maternity hospitals) and Meditrina (cardiac care hospitals). His select
past investments with exits include Ace2three (online rummy), Centre
for Sight (eye care hospitals) and ItzCash (acquired by NASDAQ: EBIX). He is also a founder investor in Cleartrip (online travel aggregator) amongst other investments as an angel investor.
Previously Avnish was the co–founder, Chairman and CEO of India’s Largest Online Marketplace at the time – Baazee.com – which was acquired by eBay and he ran eBay India thereafter. Prior to Baazee, he was an Investment Banker in the Technology group at Goldman Sachs in New York
and San Francisco. He was also a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.and started his career with Apple Computer in the Bay Area.
He is a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School, WARF Fellow from University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Computer Science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
He has received a number of awards and citations including the 'Midas Touch' best investor award by The Economic Times and a repeat presence on the '40 who matter' list.

Farhan Pettiwala

Farhan Pettiwala

Farhan Pettiwala is a well-known name in Healthcare, Youth Impact, Skill Development and EPC/Infrastructure Industry. Currently, he is the Executive Director & Head Development- India & South Asia of Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital (supported by TATA Trust). Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital is the 3rd largest hospital, headquartered in North India, engaged in eliminating blindness in low per capita geographies. Prior to his current role, he was President of Enactus India, a subsidiary of Enactus Worldwide, the international non-profit organization of students with a focus on community empowerment through entrepreneurial action. Enactus’ corporate partners include global names like Walmart, KPMG, Unilever, Coca Cola, Cargill, Ford, Hershey, HSBC and others. The Enactus Worldwide network is spread across 36 countries with over 70,000 active student members spread across 1700 universities. In India, Farhan steered the organisation that has over 3,000 student participants on 88 college campuses across the country who are guided in conceptualising and implementing various entrepreneurial projects, particularly among disadvantaged communities.

A first generation entrepreneur, Farhan established the IACO Group in 1994, under which banner he steered the designing and installing of energy-saving HVAC/IAQ systems with a ‘Green Business Design’, Under his leadership, IACO Group, which he set up with an initial investment of Rs 50,000 grew to become an INR 500 crore enterprise in 15 years. He strategized and entered into a joint venture with Norfolk Group Australia and established the company as a distributor for Carrier Aircon Ltd. He spearheaded ASX-listed Norfolk Mechanical’s India operations to register 100% growth in three years. and then signed a JV to merge with “Norfolk Group, Australia”. Later on he moved to Norfolk to head their EPC business worth $800million in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, HK and India

Farhan is a gold medallist Mechanical Engineer and has studied management from ISB Hyderabad and Harvard Business School. Farhan has won recognition in the shape of various awards and felicitations. He is on the CII India@75 task force supporting PMO as an advisor on Skill Development and Healthcare policies. He has worked in Australia, Singapore, Dubai, USA and India and enjoys Top C-level relationship globally. Having been a passionate entrepreneur with an acknowledged expertise in leadership, climate change & sustainability, Farhan is buoyant over the prospects of entrepreneurship in the country.

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles is the newly-arrived South Asia business and economics correspondent for The Economist, based in Mumbai. Before moving to India this summer, he covered Africa, from Nairobi for three years. Before that, he was based in Washington DC and London, covering politics and general news

3:20 PM

Fireside chat

Kailash Satyarthi

Founder, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

Kailash Satyarthi

Founder, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli

India correspondent, The Economist

Alex Travelli, a correspondent for The Economist, has been based in Delhi for the past three years. He concentrates mainly on stories that affect politics and society at the state level. He is also the Asia-based editor for The Economist’s 24-hour news desk, responsible for assigning and editing articles during the Asian third of the business day; he also composes the overnight European edition of The Economist Espresso. Prior to his assignment to Delhi, he worked in the newspaper’s Hong Kong and New York bureaus.

3:45 PM

Networking Break

4:00 PM

Keynote interview

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal

Minister of railways and coal, India

Piyush Goyal is the minister railways and the minister of coal in the government of India. He is currently a member of Rajya Sabha and was earlier the national treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He headed the BJP's information communication campaign committee and oversaw the publicity and advertising campaign of the party, including the social media outreach for the Indian general elections in 2014.

During his 28-year political career, Mr Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in the BJP and is in the National Executive of the party. In 2002 the government of India nominated him to the prestigious Task-force on Interlinking of Rivers.
He was a well-known investment banker and he has advised top corporates on management strategy and growth. He earlier served on the board of the State Bank of India and the Bank of Baroda.

Mr Goyal is a chartered accountant and studied law at Mumbai University. He has participated in leadership programmes at Yale University (2011), Oxford University (2012) and Princeton University (2013) and is currently pursuing the Owner/President Management (OPM) programme at Harvard Business School.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

4:30 PM

Financial reforms: The winners and losers

Reforms including the introduction of the goods and services tax and the insolvency and bankruptcy code are designed to address some of the complexities that have made doing business in India a challenge. Yet, as part of deals to attract outside investment, states often used local taxes as bargaining chips in negotiations with companies. What challenges do these financial reforms present for individual states? Will businesses in the informal economy be able to adapt to the new rules? Which industries are most or least affected? What are early examples telling us about how effective the new systems are?

Sachin Menon

National Head, Indirect Tax, KPMG India

Sachin Menon

National Head, Indirect Tax, KPMG India

Sachin has over 34 years of experience in handling Indirect Taxes which include 16 years with various MNCs / local corporates in management roles and 18 years with Global Consulting majors including E&Y and PwC as a Senior Partner in Leadership roles. Sachin is an influential and respected voice on Indirect tax matters both among the government policy making bodies as well as the corporate world. He is the Co-Chair of GST Task Force, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry [FICCI] and the Chairman of GST Committee, US-India Business Council [USIBC]. He is also a member of Indirect Taxation Committee of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He was also the former Chairman of the Indirect tax committee of Bombay Chamber of Commerce, Sachin has been recognised as one of top ten most admired Asia Pacific Indirect tax advisors by International Tax Review [ITR].

His areas of industry experience include Automobile, Financial Services, Telecom, Infrastructure & Real Estate, Energy and FMCG. He has also addressed numerous national and international indirect tax seminars organised by major Industry Associations such as CII, ASSOCHAM, FICCI and Euro Money.

Preet Dhupar

Chief Financial Officer, IKEA India

Preet Dhupar

Chief Financial Officer, IKEA India

Preet Dhupar is the chief financial officer at IKEA Group India. She has been with IKEA for more than 4 years.

Prior to this, she was handling leadership roles at BBC India for more than 14 years. She started her career at Becton Dickinson India as financial planning manager. Overall, she has 20 years of experience in various industries and geographies. She has been exposed to multiple facets of a senior finance role from strategic decision making to planning and analysis, statutory accounting, risk management, ERP implementation, taxation and compliance. Preet has a strong knowledge of global accounting principles and excellent understanding of Indian tax laws and practice.

Preet is a chartered accountant with a Bachelors’ degree from Sri Ram College of Commerce. She attended the Integrating Strategy and Finance course at ISB, Hyderabad.

She loves doing social work and has been a member of organisations like Childline India, Enactus, amongst others. Her hobbies are acting, reading, etc.

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles

South Asia business and economics correspondent, The Economist

Daniel Knowles is the newly-arrived South Asia business and economics correspondent for The Economist, based in Mumbai. Before moving to India this summer, he covered Africa, from Nairobi for three years. Before that, he was based in Washington DC and London, covering politics and general news

5:00 PM

How important are the states in making it easier to do business in India?

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

Kumar Mangalam Birla is the chairman of the multinational Aditya Birla Group, which operates in 36 countries across six continents. He took over as chairman of the group in 1995, at the age of 28, after the untimely demise of his father.

In more than two decades as chairman, he has accelerated growth, built a meritocracy within the group, and enhanced stakeholder value. He has also restructured the group’s businesses to allow them to emerge as global or national leaders in their respective sectors. Over the years, he has led the acquisition of new manufacturing plants in Canada, China and Indonesia, and of new mines in Australia, and the setting up of new plants in Egypt, Thailand and China. At the same time, he has expanded capacity in all of the group’s manufacturing units.

A firm practitioner of the trusteeship concept, Mr Birla has institutionalised the concept of caring and giving at the Aditya Birla Group. In line with this commitment to sustainable development, he has partnered with Columbia University in establishing the Columbia Global Center’s Earth Institute in Mumbai. To embed corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a way of life in organisations, has also set up the FICCI Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence in Delhi.

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck

South Asia bureau chief, The Economist

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. Previous to his current role he was Middle East bureau chief from 2000 to 2015, covering the region from Morocco to Iran, and topics ranging from wars and revolutions to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book, Cairo: The City Victorious, has been published in eight languages.

Trident Hotel, Mumbai

Sponsors

Founding sponsor

Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Bank is India's largest international bank with 100 branches in 43 cities, a combined customer base of around 2 million retail customers and around 2500 corporate and institutional relationships. Key client segments include Corporate & Institutional Banking, Commercial & Private Banking as well as Retail Banking.

Silver sponsors

Silver sponsors

Diageo

Diageo in India, a subsidiary of global leader Diageo plc., is India’s leading beverage alcohol company with an outstanding portfolio of premium brands. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Diageo India has a strong footprint supported by a committed team of over 5000 employees, 60 manufacturing facilities and a strong distribution network and point of sale coverage across India.

Silver sponsors

Goodera

Goodera is a state of the art technology platform that helps companies measure progress and impact of their CSR, Sustainability & Volunteering initiatives at the last mile on a real time basis. Currently 200+ companies including P&G, Dell, Amazon, HDFC Bank, Godrej are using the Goodera platform across 70+ countries to monitor and measure the impact of INR 20,000 Cr+ of development capital deployed annually for the betterment of 6 million beneficiaries. Goodera is backed by Omidyar Network and Nexus Venture Partners and has a 150 strong team with offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, San Francisco and London.

Silver sponsors

SREI

Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited ("Srei"), a Kanoria Foundation entity, is one of India's largest private sector integrated infrastructure institutions, constantly and consistently delivering innovative solutions in the infrastructure sector. The company has been playing a significant role in nation-building for over two and half decades, both in urban and rural India. Srei's businesses include Infrastructure Finance, Advisory, Infrastructure Equipment Finance, Alternative Investment Funds, Capital Markets and Insurance Broking. Srei is headquartered in Kolkata with over 89 offices across India and having a customer base of over 85,000.

Broadcast sponsor

Broadcast sponsor

WION (World Is One News)

Wion is india’s first global news channel and believes that what happens to the world, happens to us all. By showcasing content that represents indian interests, the channel endeavors to be india’s voice to the rest of the world, embodying the nation’s spirit. Our goal is to empower our viewers with balanced and in-depth reportage from around the globe with an Indian perspective and inspire an inclusive worldview

Supporting associations

PR partner

Allison+Partners

Allison+Partners is a global marketing communications agency with 29 offices worldwide. The firm was named PRWeek’s 2017 “Best Place to Work,” The Holmes Report’s 2017 “Digital Agency of the Year” and 2016 “Asia Pacific Corporate Agency of the Year.”

Media partner

The Indian Express

The Indian Express sets the benchmark for daily journalism's ability to inform and interpret, to challenge and provoke. As India's first integrated newsroom, the Express is packed with news, knowledge and information as it hits at the heart of the issue without any fear or favour. Read by those who have their unique point of view, its design is bold in its simplicity and evokes clarity and depth.

Media partner

Radio One

94.3 Radio one India is owned by Next Radio Ltd, a subsidiary of Next MediaWorks Ltd. It is operational in 7 Indian metro cities namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad. It runs India's largest International format Radio Network in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Supporting organisation

US India Business Council

We make business between the United States and India easier, more efficient, and more profitable. We are focused on growth for our members. We connect the two largest democracies in the world and inspire sustainable solutions to business challenges – both local and global.

Media partner

India Business Law Journal

India Business Law Journal (IBLJ) is a market-leading monthly magazine that provides in-depth analysis of the legal and regulatory challenges facing domestic and international businesses in India and unrivalled intelligence on the country’s law firms and legal market. Its readers are in-house counsel and private practice lawyers around the world. India Business Law Journal is published by Vantage Asia.

Supporting organisation

Asia Society India Centre

Asia Society India Centre is part of a global not for profit educational institution that is dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships between peoples, leaders and institutions of Asia and the world. Through its diverse and multidisciplinary programmes across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, it generates ideas, and promotes collaboration.

Media partner

Newsmobile

NewsMobile Founded in 2014 is India’s first independent mobile media network founded by award winning journalist Saurabh Shukla. NewsMobile is known for its original content and has broken several stories . It is one of the first media outlet in South Asia to use Artificial intelligence, to disseminate news.

Enquiry

Tickets and further information

Sponsorship

Speaking opportunity

If you would like to submit a speaker for suggestion please send a concise, 100 word pitch, one or two videos of the proposed speaker, a biography and any relevant articles to eventspeakersasia@economist.com.

Multimedia

VIDEO l India Summit 2018

VIDEO l India Summit 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY l India Summit 2016

India’s innovation economy is booming, or so the country’s technophiles would have us believe. It’s not hard to see why

Speaking opportunities

Sponsorship opportunities

Download Brochure

The Economist Events is a part of the Economist Group. We would love to keep you informed about other Economist events, newly-released content, our best subscription offers, and great new product offerings from The Economist Group.

I wish to be contacted by email.

I also wish to sign up to the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) Perspectives newsletter.

The Economist Group is a global organisation and operates a strict privacy policy around the world. Please see our privacy policy here

Attending Request

By submitting this form we will send you updates associated with this event.

The Economist Events is a part of the Economist Group. We would love to keep you informed about other Economist events, newly-released content, our best subscription offers, and great new product offerings from The Economist Group.

I wish to be contacted by email.

I also wish to sign up to the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) Perspectives newsletter.

The Economist Group is a global organisation and operates a strict privacy policy around the world. Please see our privacy policy here

Media partnership and press Request

By submitting this form we will send you updates associated with this event.

The Economist Events is a part of the Economist Group. We would love to keep you informed about other Economist events, newly-released content, our best subscription offers, and great new product offerings from The Economist Group.

I wish to be contacted by email.

I also wish to sign up to the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) Perspectives newsletter.

The Economist Group is a global organisation and operates a strict privacy policy around the world. Please see our privacy policy here